Destructive Squirrel Chewing

Giving credit where credit is due, squirrels are fantastic chewers.

But, there is nothing fantastic when you are the one who has to deal with the fallout of a squirrel’s incisors.

For today’s post we highlight a couple of recent instances where squirrel chewing caused problems to the point where we were called.

The first example is a hole in a BRAND NEW siding job. Talk about annoying! You pay good money to make your house look good and no sooner is the job complete when along comes a squirrel and puts a hole in it. Frustrating.

The second example is an odd display of chewing. At this house a squirrel or squirrels decided to chew on the plastic hose reels. Why? We aren’t quite sure but we encourage you to watch the video and come up with your own theory.

Squirrel Hole in New Siding

Where and when squirrels decide to chew into a home depends on a number of conditions.

Access, structural damage, poor habitat availability, etc. are all factors which play into the seemingly random act of a squirrel deciding to chew into your home. And, if they like the conditions, they’ll take advantage by chewing their way in.

When that happens, squirrel removal and repair are in order because they aren’t just going to leave if asked nicely. Once they find a place they like, they’ll stay. And, as their occupancy continues they’ll make more “home improvements” in the way of chewing- getting their home in the right condition for them.

Squirrel chewing often conflicts with a homeowner’s idea of home improvements as shown in the video below.

In the video we highlight a job where squirrels chewed through a brand new siding job.

We suspect that the squirrels were already living in the house and their old entrance was just covered over.

It is a shame though that this new work already needs repaired due to squirrel chewing.

Squirrel removal and then a repair of the new siding job is what is called for here.

Squirrel Chews for Fun?

The squirrels in the above example were chewing to get in to a living space. This is common and something we see often.

But sometimes, we find squirrel chewing that we can’t explain. Here’s such an instance.

Squirrels have no problems chewing through plastic, but we wonder why they decided to chew up a couple of hose reels.

Since most hose reels and other outdoor plastic items are left alone, we don’t think there is something in plastic items like this that either tastes good or provides some mineral need. We don’t think the plastic was eaten.

So why chew on it?

We could only guess. It is curious though and highlights another way squirrels can be destructive.